ransonware

The crippling ransomware attack last week that paralyzed hospitals, universities and businesses globally was just a cyber appetizer, experts warn. The main dish is still to come.

"That was just a big warning," says Rick McElroy, a security strategist at Carbon Black, which develops endpoint cybersecurity software to detect malicious behavior. "If you weren't impacted by this one, something is going to come down the pike that's more advanced that you’re probably not prepared for. So start to build your defenses today to get out in front of this stuff.”

Ransomware soared as the preferred malware of cybercriminals, with the number of new samples rising 58 percent over the second quarter of this year, and a whopping 127 percent over this time last year, according to a new analysis by Intel Security.

The firm released a retrospective report five years after acquiring McAfee. Its researchers compared what they thought would happen beginning in 2010 to what actually happened with hardware and software security threats, noting the boom in the number of devices connected to the Internet and a general lack of cyberhygiene contributed to the increase of malware intrusions and ransomware attacks.